Radio receivers, or tuners, are widely used in applications requiring the reception of electromagnetic energy. Applications can include broadcast receivers such as radio and television, set top boxes for cable television, receivers in local area networks, test and measurement equipment, radar receivers, air traffic control receivers, and microwave communication links among others. Transmission of the electromagnetic energy may be over a transmission line or by electromagnetic radio waves.
The design of a receiver is one of the most complex design tasks in electrical engineering. In the current state of the art, there are many design criteria that must be considered to produce a working radio receiver. Tradeoffs in the design's performance are often utilized to achieve a given objective. There are a multitude of performance characteristics that must be considered in designing the receiver. However, certain performance characteristics are common to all receivers. Distortion and noise are two such parameters. The process of capturing the signal creates distortion that must be accounted for in the design of the radio receiver. Once a radio signal is captured, the noise surrounding the received signal in the receiver must be considered. Radio signals are often extremely weak and if noise is present in the circuit, the signal, even though satisfactorily received, can be easily lost in this noise floor. The current state of the art in receiver design is often directed to overcoming these receiver limitations in a cost effective manner.